This R03 application seeks 2 years of support to undertake the methodological development and pilot implementation of a nursing intervention for persons recovering from myocardial infarction (MI). The intervention will target the modification of misconceptions in patients' common sense models - or cognitive representations - of MI and coronary heart disease (CHD), with the ultimate goal of facilitating healthy behaviors and improving quality of life. The nursing intervention will use semi-structured telephone scripts to reinforce patients' accurate beliefs about CHD, while creating conditions conducive to the modification of CHD-related misconceptions through the application of principles from the social psychological literature on persuasion. In addition, the intervention will be tailored to participants' CHD risk factors and their unique cognitive representations of MI. The development of such an intervention is important for 2 reasons. First, misconceptions about CHD are very common among patients recovering from MI and such misconceptions predict non-adherence to post-MI recommendations regarding diet, exercise, and smoking cessation. Second, CHD-related misconceptions are especially pronounced among post-MI women and may contribute to gender disparities in CHD outcomes. The proposed R03 project will address 3 specific aims: (1) development of the materials and procedures for the nursing intervention; (2) pilot testing the intervention in a sample of 24 post-MI patients using a single-factor between-subjects experimental design; and (3) evaluating the feasibility of testing the intervention on a larger scale. The pilot study will involve assessing representations of MI and CHD by telephone at 1-week post-hospital discharge. Participants in the treatment group will receive the telephone intervention at 2 weeks post-discharge, with those in the control group receiving standard care. Outcome data regarding health behaviors, symptoms, and quality of life will be collected after 8-weeks. Pilot data will be used to refine the protocol and conduct a power analysis. [unreadable] [unreadable]